Daily Times

South Asian Telecommunication Regulators’ Council (SATRC-23) Workshop on Policy Regulation and Services officially commenced today at a local hotel in Islamabad. The three-day workshop, hosted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), brings together experts and policymakers from across South Asia to explore key matters related to new technologies, regulation and policies in the telecommunications sector.

The event began with a welcome address by Secretary General of Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), Mr. Masanori Kondo. He encouraged the delegates to contribute to the insightful discussion and appreciated PTA’s effort in organizing the Workshop. This was followed by the opening address by DG S&D who is also the Chair of SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services (PRS).

The inaugural address by Chairman PTA, Mr. Muhammad Naveed highlighted the importance of the telecommunications sector in Pakistan and stated that the sector is evolving rapidly. The regulator has a crucial role to play in ensuring that quality services are delivered in a manner that is secure, and beneficial to the citizens. The event also featured a keynote address by the Federal Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom (MoIT&T), Mr. Navid Ahmed Shaikh who emphasized the role of emerging technologies in driving innovation and economic growth in the region.

The first day of the Workshop featured three sessions with the first covering overview of APT, SATRC and the workshop. The next session was regarding emerging technologies and the evolving policy, regulation, and connectivity landscape which included discussion on Metaverse, Internet of Things (IoT), Evolution of WLAN (Wi-Fi 6e), Future Generations of Mobile Telephony (Terrestrial and Satellite 6G) and Free Space Optical (FSO i.e. Wireless communication in THz and beyond). The third session was about the policy & regulation of 5G technology and its ecosystem.

The SATRC Workshop on PRS will continue for three days, with experts from South Asian countries discussing a range of subjects. Some of the key topics include telecom active infrastructure sharing, OTT services and applications, NGSO satellite constellations, sustainability and collaborative aspects of regulations.